Personalized plant asset data representation and search system

ABSTRACT

A process control system collects data, or status information, pertaining to assets of a process plant from various sources or functional areas of the plant. The collected information may then be accessed by a user through a user interface routine displaying a graphical user interface to that user&#39;s computer. An asset data and search expert tracks user interaction with plant data by, for example, tracking the types of search fields a user most frequently searches with or the type of information a user more frequently browses for. The expert automatically profiles this tracked information to develop user preferences that are later used in personalizing the reporting of asset data, personalizing searching for asset data, and personalizing the results of such searches.

BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE

1. Field of the Disclosure

The disclosure relates generally to process control systems withinprocess plants and, more particularly, to techniques for reporting dataand searching for data pertaining to assets in a process plant.

2. Brief Description of Related Technology

Process control systems, like those used in chemical, petroleum or otherprocesses, typically include one or more centralized or decentralizedprocess controllers communicatively coupled to at least one host oroperator workstation and to one or more process control andinstrumentation devices, such as field devices, via analog, digital orcombined analog/digital buses. Field devices, which may be, for examplevalves, valve positioners, switches, transmitters, and sensors (e.g.,temperature, pressure and flow rate sensors), perform functions withinthe process such as opening or closing valves and measuring processparameters. The process controller receives signals indicative ofprocess measurements or process variables made by or associated with thefield devices and/or other information pertaining to the field devices,uses this information to implement a control routine and then generatescontrol signals which are sent over one or more of the buses to thefield devices to control the operation of the process. Information fromthe field devices and the controller is typically made available to oneor more applications executed by an operator workstation to enable anoperator to perform desired functions with respect to the process, suchas viewing the current state of the process, modifying the operation ofthe process, etc.

While a typical process control system has many process control andinstrumentation devices, such as valves, transmitters, sensors, etc.connected to one or more process controllers which execute software thatcontrols these devices during the operation of the process, there aremany other supporting devices which are also necessary for or related toprocess operation. These additional devices include, for example, powersupply equipment, power generation and distribution equipment, rotatingequipment such as turbines, etc., which are located at numerous placesin a typical plant.

Still further, many process plants have other computers associatedtherewith which execute applications related to business functions ormaintenance functions. For example, some plants include computers whichexecute applications associated with ordering raw materials, replacementparts or devices for the plant, applications related to forecastingsales and production needs, etc. Likewise, many process plants, andespecially those which use smart field devices, include applicationswhich are used to help monitor and maintain the devices within the plantregardless of whether these devices are process control andinstrumentation devices or are other types of devices. For example, theAsset Management Solutions (AMS™) Suite Intelligent Device Manager ormore generally the AMS™ Suite of applications available from EmersonProcess Management enable communication with and store data pertainingto field devices to ascertain and track the operating state of the fielddevices. An example of such a system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No.5,960,214 entitled “Integrated Communication Network for use in a FieldDevice Management System.” In some instances, the AMS™ Suite ofapplications may be used to communicate with devices to changeparameters within the device, to cause the device to run applications onitself, such as self calibration routines or self diagnostic routines,to obtain information about the status or health of the device, etc.This information may be stored and used by a maintenance person tomonitor and maintain these devices. Likewise, there are other types ofapplications which are used to monitor other types of devices, such asrotating equipment and power generation and supply devices. These otherapplications are typically available to the maintenance persons and areused to monitor and maintain the devices within a process plant.

However, in the typical plant or process, the functions associated withthe process control activities, the device and equipment maintenance andmonitoring activities, and the business activities are separated, bothin the location in which these activities take place and in thepersonnel who typically perform these activities. Furthermore, thedifferent people involved in these different functions generally usedifferent tools, such as different applications run on differentcomputers to perform the different functions. In many instances, thesedifferent tools collect or use different types of data associated withor collected from the different devices within the process and are setup differently to collect the data they need. For example, processcontrol operators who generally oversee the day to day operation of theprocess and who are primarily responsible for assuring the quality andcontinuity of the process operation typically affect the process bysetting and changing set points within the process, tuning loops of theprocess, scheduling process operations such as batch operations, etc.These process control operators may use available tools for diagnosingand correcting process control problems within a process control system,including, for example, auto-tuners, loop analyzers, neural networksystems, etc. Process control operators also receive process variableinformation from the process via one or more process controllers whichprovide information to the operators about the operation of the process,including alerts generated within the process. This information may beprovided to the process control operator via a standard user interface.

Still further, it is currently known to provide an expert engine thatuses process control variables and limited information about theoperating condition of the control routines or function blocks ormodules associated with process control routines to detect poorlyoperating loops and to provide information to an operator aboutsuggested courses of action to correct the problem. An example expertengine is disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/256,585entitled “Diagnostics in a Process Control System,” which was filed onFeb. 22, 1999 and in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/499,445entitled “Diagnostic Expert in a Process Control System,” which wasfiled on Feb. 7, 2000, both of which are hereby expressly incorporatedby reference herein. Likewise, it is known to run control optimizers,such as real time optimizers, within a plant to optimize the controlactivities of the process plant. Such optimizers typically use complexmodels of the plant to predict how inputs may be changed to optimizeoperation of the plant with respect to some desired optimizationvariable such as, for example, profit.

On the other hand, maintenance personnel who are primarily responsiblefor assuring that the actual equipment within the process is operatingefficiently and for repairing and replacing malfunctioning equipment,use tools such as maintenance interfaces, the AMS™ Suite of applicationsdiscussed above, as well and many other diagnostic tools which provideinformation about operating states of the devices within the process.Maintenance persons also schedule maintenance activities which mayrequire shut down of portions of the plant. For many newer types ofprocess devices and equipment, generally called smart field devices, thedevices themselves may include detection and diagnostic tools whichautomatically sense problems with the operation of the device andautomatically report these problems to a maintenance person via astandard maintenance interface. For example, applications in the AMS™Suite of applications report device status and diagnostic information tothe maintenance person and provide communication and other tools thatenable the maintenance person to determine what is happening in devicesand to access device information provided by devices. Typically,maintenance interfaces and maintenance personnel are located apart fromprocess control operators, although this is not always the case. Forexample, in some process plants, process control operators may performthe duties of maintenance persons or vice versa, or the different peopleresponsible for these functions may use the same interface.

Still further, persons responsible and applications used for businessapplications, such as ordering parts, supplies, raw materials, etc.,making strategic business decisions such as choosing which products tomanufacture, what variables to optimize within the plant, etc. aretypically located in offices of the plant that are remote from both theprocess control interfaces and the maintenance interfaces. Likewise,managers or other persons may want to have access to certain informationwithin the process plant from remote locations or from other computersystems associated with the process plant for use in overseeing theplant operation and in making long term strategic decisions.

Because, for the most part, very different applications are used toperform the different functions within a plant (e.g., process controloperations, maintenance operations and business operations areseparated) such applications are not integrated and, thus, do not sharedata or information. In fact, many plants only include some, but notall, of these different types of applications. Furthermore, even if allof the applications are located within a plant, because differentpersonnel use these different applications and analysis tools andbecause these tools are generally located at different hardwarelocations within the plant, there is little if any flow of informationfrom one functional area of the plant to another, even when thisinformation may be useful to other functions within the plant. Forexample, a tool, such as a rotating equipment data analysis tool, may beused by a maintenance person to detect a poorly functioning powergenerator or piece of rotating equipment (based on non-process variabletype data). This tool may detect a problem and alert the maintenanceperson that the device needs to be calibrated, repaired or replaced.However, the process control operator (either a human or a softwareexpert) does not have the benefit of this information, even though thepoorly operating device may be causing a problem that is affecting aloop or some other component which is being monitored by the processcontrol operation. Likewise, the business person is not aware of thisfact, even though the malfunctioning device may be critical to and maybe preventing optimization of the plant in a manner that the businessperson may desire. Because the process control expert is unaware of adevice problem which may be ultimately causing poor performance of aloop or unit in the process control system and because the processcontrol operator or expert assumes that this equipment is operatingperfectly, the process control expert may misdiagnose the problem itdetects within the process control loop or may try to apply a tool, suchas a loop tuner, which could never actually correct the problem.Likewise, the business person may make a business decision to run theplant in a manner that will not achieve the desired business effects(such as optimizing profits) because of the malfunctioning device.

Due to the abundance of data analysis and other detection and diagnostictools available in the process control environment, there is asubstantial amount of information about the health and performance ofdevices available to the maintenance person which could be helpful tothe process operator and the business persons. Similarly, there is asubstantial amount of information available to the process operatorabout the current operational status of the process control loops andother routines which may be helpful to the maintenance person or to thebusiness person. Likewise, there is information generated by or used inthe course of performing the business functions that could be helpful tothe maintenance person or the process control operator in optimizing theoperation of the process.

The abundance of information regarding process plants and the assetswithin them presents a problem to plant operators and other personnel,because obtaining plant information can be quite time-consuming as auser must wade through oftentimes large amounts of data to isolate downto the particular information of interest.

SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE

In accordance with one aspect of the disclosure, a method of reportingstatus information regarding an entity within a process plant, themethod comprising: receiving initial status information from a datasource in response to a user request; prioritizing the initial statusinformation based on historical user preference data to identify asubset of higher priority status information within the statusinformation; generating a report that includes the higher prioritystatus information ranked above other of the status information; anddisplaying the report to a user.

In accordance with another aspect of the disclosure, an apparatus forreporting status information on assets in a plant comprises: a memorystoring status information on the assets within the plant; a display fordisplaying the stored status information; and a status informationreporter configured to: a) receive initial status information from adata source in response to a user request; b) prioritize the initialstatus information based on historical user preference data to identifya subset of higher priority status information within the statusinformation; and c) generate a report that includes the higher prioritystatus information ranked above other of the status information.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGURES

For a more complete understanding of the disclosure, reference should bemade to the following detailed description and accompanying drawingfigures, in which like reference numerals identify like elements in thefigures, and in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a processing plant;

FIG. 2 is a data and information flow diagram with respect to an assetmanagement system within the plant of FIG. 1 and showing an asset dataand search reporter in accordance with the present application;

FIG. 3 is an exemplary depiction of a display representing a unit withina process control system that may be displayed by a graphical userinterface;

FIG. 4 illustrates a block diagram of an example implementation of theasset data and search reporter of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 illustrates a flow diagram of an example historical datacollection that may be implemented by an asset data and search reporter;

FIG. 6A illustrates a flow diagram of an example process that may beexecuted by an asset data and search reporter to automatically providesearch reports to a user;

FIGS. 6B and 6C illustrate various correlation mappings for searchreporters as may be generated by an asset data and search reporter;

FIG. 7 illustrates an example graphical display of a personalized searchreport automatically generated by an asset data and search reporter inresponse to user search criteria;

FIG. 8 illustrates another example graphical display of a personalizedsearch report automatically generated by an asset data and searchreporter in response to user search criteria, and showing a differenthistorical data prioritization;

FIG. 9 illustrates yet another example graphical display of apersonalized search report automatically generated by an asset data andsearch reporter in response to user search criteria;

FIG. 10 illustrates another example graphical display of a personalizedsearch report automatically generated by an asset data and searchreporter in response to user search criteria and showing different assetinformation from that of FIGS. 7-9;

FIG. 11 illustrates another example graphical display of a personalizedsearch report automatically generated by an asset data and searchreporter in response to user search criteria and showing different assetinformation from that of FIGS. 7-10;

FIG. 12A illustrates another example personalized search report;

FIG. 12B illustrates a personalized search report where correlated assetresults have been accessed through a smart tag automatically generatedby an asset data and search reporter;

FIG. 13 illustrates an example graphical display that may be provided bya graphical user interface to enable a user to view reports regardingdifferent levels within a process plant;

FIG. 14 illustrates an example graphical display depicting personalizedsearch report asset data in various graphic forms;

FIG. 15 is an example graphical display that may be provided by agraphical user interface in response to the asset data and searchreporter to enable a user to view status information of lower levelentities within a higher level entity;

FIG. 16 is an example graphical display that may be provided by agraphical user interface in response to the asset data and searchreporter to enable a user to view status information of a lower levelentity;

FIG. 17 is an example graphical display that may be provided by agraphical user interface in response to the asset data and searchreporter to enable a user to view alert information;

FIG. 18 is an example graphical display that may be provided by agraphical user interface in response to the asset data and searchreporter to enable a user to view detailed alert information;

FIG. 19 is an example graphical display that may be provided by agraphical user interface in response to the asset data and searchreporter to enable a user to view audit trail information of historicalevents;

FIG. 20 is an example graphical display that may be provided by agraphical user interface in response to the asset data and searchreporter to enable a user to view detailed audit trail information for ahistorical event;

FIG. 21 is an example graphical display that may be provided by agraphical user interface in response to the asset data and searchreporter to enable a user to view status information regarding a processplant;

FIG. 22 is an example graphical display that may be provided by agraphical user interface in response to the asset data and searchreporter to enable a user to view status information regarding an areawithin the process plant of FIG. 21;

FIG. 23 is an example graphical display that may be provided by agraphical user interface to enable a user to view status informationregarding a unit within the area of FIG. 22;

FIG. 24 is an example graphical display that may be provided by agraphical user interface to enable a user to view status informationregarding a loop or device within the unit of FIG. 23; and

FIG. 25 is an example graphical display that may be provided by agraphical user interface to enable a user to status informationregarding equipment, a component, a transmitter or a valve.

While the disclosed methods and apparatuses are susceptible ofembodiments in various forms, there are illustrated in the drawing (andwill hereafter be described) specific embodiments of the invention, withthe understanding that the disclosure is intended to be illustrative,and is not intended to limit the invention to the specific embodimentsdescribed and illustrated herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring now to FIG. 1, a process plant 10 includes a number ofbusiness and other computer systems interconnected with a number ofcontrol and maintenance systems by one or more communication networks.The process plant 10 includes one or more process control systems 12 and14. The process control system 12 may be a traditional process controlsystem such as a PROVOX or RS3 system or any other DCS which includes anoperator interface 12A coupled to a controller 12B and to input/output(I/O) cards 12C which, in turn, are coupled to various field devicessuch as analog and Highway Addressable Remote Transmitter (HART®) fielddevices 15. The process control system 14, which may be a distributedprocess control system, includes one or more operator interfaces 14Acoupled to one or more distributed controllers 14B via a bus, such as anEthernet bus. The controllers 14B may be, for example, DeltaV™controllers available from Emerson Process Management or any otherdesired type of controllers. The controllers 14B are connected via I/Odevices to one or more field devices 16, such as for example, HART orFieldbus field devices or any other smart or non-smart field devicesincluding, for example, those that use any of the PROFIBUS®, WORLDFIP®,Device-Net®, AS-Interface and CAN protocols. As is known, the fielddevices 16 may provide analog or digital information to the controllers14B related to process variables as well as to other device information.The operator interfaces 14A may store and execute tools available to theprocess control operator for controlling the operation of the processincluding, for example, control optimizers, diagnostic experts, neuralnetworks, tuners, etc.

Still further, maintenance systems, such as computers executing an AMS™Suite application or any other device monitoring and communicationapplications may be connected to the process control systems 12 and 14or to the individual devices therein to perform maintenance andmonitoring activities. For example, a maintenance computer 18 may beconnected to the controller 12B and/or to the devices 15 via any desiredcommunication lines or networks (including wireless or handheld devicenetworks) to communicate with and, in some instances, reconfigure orperform other maintenance activities on the devices 15. Similarly,maintenance applications such as the AMS™ Suite of applications may beinstalled in and executed by one or more of the user interfaces 14Aassociated with the distributed process control system 14 to performmaintenance and monitoring functions, including data collection relatedto the operating status of the devices 16.

The process plant 10 also includes various rotating equipment 20, suchas turbines, motors, etc. which are connected to a maintenance computer22 via some permanent or temporary communication link (such as a bus, awireless communication system or hand held devices which are connectedto the equipment 20 to take readings and are then removed). Themaintenance computer 22 may store and execute known monitoring anddiagnostic applications 23, for example the AMS™ Suite: Machinery HealthManager available from the Asset Optimization Division of EmersonProcess Management or any other known applications used to diagnose,monitor and optimize the operating state of the rotating equipment 20.Maintenance personnel usually use the applications 23 to maintain andoversee the performance of rotating equipment 20 in the plant 10, todetermine problems with the rotating equipment 20 and to determine whenand if the rotating equipment 20 must be repaired or replaced.

Similarly, a power generation and distribution system 24 having powergenerating and distribution equipment 25 associated with the plant 10 isconnected via, for example, a bus, to another computer 26 which runs andoversees the operation of the power generating and distributionequipment 25 within the plant 10. The computer 26 may execute knownpower control and diagnostics applications 27 such as those provided by,for example, Liebert and ASCO or other companies to control and maintainthe power generation and distribution equipment 25.

A computer system 30 is provided which is communicatively connected tothe computers or interfaces associated with the various functionalsystems within the plant 10, including the process control functions 12and 14, the maintenance functions such as those implemented in thecomputers 18, 14A, 22 and 26 and the business functions. In particular,the computer system 30 is communicatively connected to the traditionalprocess control system 12 and to the maintenance interface 18 associatedwith that control system, is connected to the process control and/ormaintenance interfaces 14A of the distributed process control system 14,is connected to the rotating equipment maintenance computer 22 and tothe power generation and distribution computer 26, all via a bus 32. Thebus 32 may use any desired or appropriate local area network (LAN) orwide area network (WAN) protocol to provide communications.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, the computer 30 is also connected via the sameor a different network bus 32 to business system computers andmaintenance planning computers 35 and 36, which may execute, forexample, enterprise resource planning (ERP), material resource planning(MRP), computer maintenance management systems (CMMS), accounting,production and customer ordering systems, maintenance planning systemsor any other desired business applications such as parts, supplies andraw materials ordering applications, production scheduling applications,etc. The computer 30 may also be connected via, for example, the bus 32,to a plantwide LAN 37, a corporate WAN 38 as well as to a computersystem 40 that enables remote monitoring of or communication with theplant 10 from remote locations.

In one embodiment, the communications over the bus 32 occur using theXML/XSL protocol. Here, data from each of the computers 12A, 18, 14A,22, 26, 35, 36, etc. is wrapped in an XML/XSL wrapper and is sent to anXML/XSL data server which may be located in, for example, the computer30. Because XML/XSL is a descriptive language, the server can processany type of data. At the server, if necessary, the data is encapsulatedwith a new XML/XSL wrapper, i.e., this data is mapped from one XML/XSLschema to one or more other XML/XSL schemas which are created for eachof the receiving applications. Thus, each data originator can wrap itsdata using a schema understood or convenient for that device orapplication, and each receiving application can receive the data in adifferent schema used for or understood by the receiving application.The server is configured to map one schema to another schema dependingon the source and destination(s) of the data. If desired, the server mayalso perform certain data processing functions or other functions basedon the receipt of data. The mapping and processing function rules areset up and stored in the server prior to operation of the systemdescribed herein. In this manner, data may be sent from any oneapplication to one or more other applications.

Generally speaking, the computer 30 stores and executes an assetmanagement system 50 that collects data and other information generatedby the process control systems 12 and 14, the maintenance systems 18, 22and 26 and the business systems 35 and 36 as well as informationgenerated by data analysis tools executed in each of these systems. Theasset management system 50 may be based on, for example, the OZ expertsystem currently provided by NEXUS. However, the asset management system50 may be any other desired type of expert system including, forexample, any type of data mining system. Importantly, the assetmanagement system 50 operates as a data and information clearinghouse inthe process plant 10 and is able to coordinate the distribution of dataor information from one functional area, such as the maintenance area,to other functional areas, such as the process control or the businessfunctional areas. The asset management system 50 may also use thecollected data to generate new information or data which can bedistributed to one or more of the computer systems associated with thedifferent functions within the plant 10. Still further, the assetmanagement system 50 may execute or oversee the execution of otherapplications that use the collected data to generate new types of datato be used within the process plant 10.

In particular, the asset management system 50 may include or executeindex generation software 51 that creates indices associated withdevices, like process control and instrumentation devices, powergeneration devices, rotating equipment, units, areas, etc, or that areassociated with process control entities, like loops, etc. within theplant 10. These indices can then be provided to the process controlapplications to help optimize process control and can be provided to thebusiness software or business applications to provide the businesspersons more complete or understandable information associated with theoperation of the plant 10. The asset management system 50 can alsoprovide maintenance data (such as device status information) andbusiness data (such as data associated with scheduled work orders,timeframes, etc.) to a control expert 52 associated with, for example,the process control system 14 to help an operator perform controlactivities such as optimizing control. The control expert 52 may belocated in, for example, the user interface 14A or any other computerassociated with the control system 14 or within the computer 30 ifdesired. In one embodiment, the control expert 52 may be, for example,the control expert described in U.S. patent application Ser. Nos.09/256,585 and 09/499,445 identified above.

Additionally, the asset management system 50 can send information to oneor more optimizers 55 within the plant 10. For example, a controloptimizer 55 can be located in the computer 14A and can run one or morecontrol optimization routines 55. Additionally or alternatively,optimizer routines 55 could be stored in and executed by the computer 30or any other computer, and the data necessary therefore could be sent bythe asset management system 50. If desired, the plant 10 may alsoinclude models 56 that model certain aspects of the plant 10 and thesemodels 56 can be executed by the asset management system 50 or a controlor other expert such as the control expert 52 to perform modelingfunctions, the purpose of which is described in greater detail in U.S.patent application Ser. No. 10/085,439 entitled “Creation and Display ofIndices in a Process Plant,” which was filed on Feb. 28, 2002, which isexpressly incorporated by reference herein. Generally speaking, however,the models 56 can be used to determine device, area, unit, loop, etc.parameters, to detect faulty sensors or other faulty equipment, as partof optimizer routines 55, to generate indices such as performance andutilization indices for use in the plant 10, to perform performance orcondition monitoring, as well as for many other uses. The models 56 maybe models such as those available through the AMS™ Suite Optimizer andPerformance Monitor available from the Performance and OptimizationDivision of Emerson Process Management or may be any other desired typesof models.

The computer 30 may further store and execute an asset data/searchreporter 60. Generally speaking, the asset data/search reporter 60receives status information from data sources, including the assetmanagement system 50, data tools, data collectors, data generators,etc., and generates a report for a user. A report is generated todisplay the status information, or a depiction representing the statusinformation, to the user in accordance with a user profile. The reportmay be presented by one or more user interface routines 58 and tailoredto the user's preferences as contained in the user profile. The userprofile may also contain information about the user, such as the user'sresponsibilities within the plant, to determine what status informationthe user must view, must not view and may optionally view. For example,a maintenance person may generally be responsible for monitoring thehealth of a device. In addition, the maintenance person may beinterested in how the device is being operated by a process operator.The maintenance person's responsibilities and interest may be reflectedin the user profile. When a maintenance report is generated by the assetdata/search reporter 60, the user profile of the maintenance person isread and a report is generated that contains the status informationregarding the health of the device, regardless of the maintenanceperson's preferences. The report may also contain status informationregarding the performance and productivity of the device, which is anoptional type of status information available to the maintenance personthat the maintenance person has indicated a preference for, as reflectedin the user profile. However, the user profile may also containrestrictions on what the maintenance report may contain. For example,the maintenance person may be restricted from seeing status informationabout the financial health of the process plant.

Also, generally speaking, the one or more user interface routines 58 canbe stored in and executed by one or more of the computers within theplant 10. For example, the computer 30, the user interface 14A, thebusiness system computer 35 or any other computer may run a userinterface routine 58. Each user interface routine 58 can receive orsubscribe to information from the asset data/search reporter 60 andeither the same or different sets of data may be sent to each of theuser interface routines 58. Any one of the user interface routines 58can provide different types of information using different screens todifferent users. For example, one of the user interface routines 58 mayprovide a screen or set of screens to a control operator or to abusiness person to enable that person to set constraints or to chooseoptimization variables for use in a standard control routine or in acontrol optimizer routine. The user interface routine 58 may provide acontrol guidance tool that enables a user to view the indices created bythe index generation software 51 in some coordinated manner. Thisoperator guidance tool may also enable the operator or any other personto obtain information about the states of devices, control loops, units,etc. and to easily see the information related to the problems withthese entities, as that information has been detected by other softwarewithin the process plant 10. The user interface routine 58 may alsoprovide performance monitoring screens using performance monitoring dataprovided by or generated by the tools 23 and 27, the maintenanceprograms such as from the AMS™ Suite Intelligent Device Manageravailable from the Asset Optimization Division of Emerson ProcessManagement or any other maintenance programs. Of course, the userinterface routine 58 may provide any user access to and enable the userto change preferences or other variables used in any or all functionalareas of the plant 10.

Referring now to FIG. 2, a data flow diagram illustrating some of thedata flow between an asset data/search reporter 60 and other data toolsor data sources within the process plant 10 according to an example isprovided. In one embodiment, the asset data/search reporter 60 receivesinformation from information sources which may run various routines andapplications for providing status information regarding devices, loops,units, areas, etc. within a process plant. The asset data/searchreporter 60 may be incorporated with a central data collecting, sharingand distribution application, such as the asset management system 50described above which receives much of the status information from thevarious data tools and data sources, or provided as a separateapplication. The asset data/search reporter 60 may be centrally locatedat a particular server, which may be maintained locally at the plant 10or remotely from the plant 10. Alternatively, the asset data/searchreporter 60 may be distributed among several computers such as businesssystem computers 35, maintenance computers 18, 22, and 26 maintenanceplanning computers 36. Furthermore, the asset data/search reporter 60may be a network application available over the Internet and/or theplantwide LAN 37 and available to various personnel through userinterfaces 12A, 14A, 58.

As mentioned above, the asset data/search reporter 60 receives statusinformation from various data sources, which may include datacollectors, data generators or data tools including index generationroutines 51, the control expert 52, optimizers 55, model generationroutines 56, business applications 64, maintenance system applications66, control routines 68, asset managers 70, decision makers 72, etc. Inone embodiment, the asset data/search reporter 60 may receiveinformation from the asset management system 50 described above, andwhich is described further in U.S. patent application Ser. No.10/085,439 referred to above. This information may include indicesrelated to the health, performance, utilization and variability of aparticular device, loop, unit, area, etc. This data can take on anydesired form based on how the data is generated or used by otherfunctional systems. Still further, this data may be sent to the assetdata/search reporter 60 using any desired or appropriate datacommunication protocol and communication hardware, such as the XML/XSLprotocol discussed above. Generally speaking, however, the plant 10 willbe configured so that the asset data/search reporter 60 automaticallyreceives specific kinds of data from one or more of the data sources.

In addition to receiving indices from the asset management system 50,optimization information from optimizers 55, such as the AMS™ Suite RealTime Optimizer available from Emerson Process Management, may bereceived by the asset data/search reporter 60. In one embodiment, theAMS™ Suite Real Time Optimizer real time optimization routine may beused as a real time optimizer and may be executed at various or periodictimes during operation of the plant 10. The AMS™ Suite Real TimeOptimizer real time optimization routine is described in greater detailin U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/085,439 mentioned above. The AMS™Suite Real Time Optimizer optimization routine first executes an inputphase during which the routine checks to determine whether the variablesthat were previously indicated as being variables which could bemanipulated by the optimizer to perform optimization, such as set pointsor other inputs of various devices, units, etc., can actually bemanipulated at the current time. This information may be available tothe optimizer from the asset management system 50 which obtains thisinformation from the process control system and stores this informationwithin any desired database. Thus, during the input phase, the optimizeractually determines, based on the data provided to it from the assetmanagement system 50, whether each of the possible manipulated inputs isstill available to be changed. The real time optimizer may alsodetermine if the variables that were supposed to change during the lastrun of the optimizer were actually changed to and reached the suggestedor calculated values from the last run of the optimizer. Detecting afailure of a variable to reach a value that it should have theoreticallyreached may also cause the optimizer to report to an operator that theremay be a problem within the system that needs to be addressed. Next, theoptimizer performs a quick execution of each of the individual componentmodels that make up the entire model using, for example, the actualinputs and outputs measured from the plant 10. The calculated outputs ofeach component model are then reviewed to see if there is any problemwith any particular component model that will prevent the entire modelfrom running accurately. Assuming that each of the component models canbe executed, the optimizer may look for discrepancies in the models thatmay affect the ability of the optimizer to optimize.

In addition to receiving optimization information from the optimizers55, the asset data/search reporter 60 may, in some examples, performoptimization functions such as those described with respect to the assetoptimization reporter described in U.S. application Ser. No.[10/390,818], entitled “Asset Optimization Reporting in a ProcessPlant,” the entire specification of which is incorporated herein byreference. Some example features are provided below.

In an optimization mode, for example, the asset data/search reporter 60may run individual models in a predetermined order using the outputsfrom one component model as inputs to one or more of the other componentmodels making up the entire model. Using the entire model, theconstraints provided by the user and the new constraints determined bythe input phase, as well as the optimization criteria, the optimizercould determine the changes to be made to the input or manipulatedvariables which have been detected as currently being capable ofmanipulation which will optimize the plant over the time window in whichthe optimizer runs. Optimization criteria may be typically performed bya business person or business application. The asset management system50 may provide the business person, via the user interface routines 58,a systematic set of choices of what the optimization criteria will be atany particular time and provides the choices made by the operator or anyother user to the optimization routine. In fact, there are manyoptimization variables that can be selected and the choice of thesedifferent criteria may be provided to the operator or business personvia the user interface to allow the operator or business person tochoose different optimization criteria in any desired manner.

In an optimization mode, the asset data/search reporter 60 may determineif the manipulated variables or inputs to be changed are stillavailable. If all of the manipulated variables to be changed can stillbe changed, the suggested changes may be provided to an operator via,for example, the user interface (e.g., a graphical user interface). Theoperator may be able to simply press a button and have the changes tothe manipulated variables initiated or downloaded to the process controlroutine automatically, such as changing set points, etc. in a matterdetermined by the optimizer. In another embodiment or in later stages ofoperation, for example, when the process is running properly, theoptimization mode may automatically implement the suggested changes ifthe operator does not prevent the instantiation of the changes within aparticular time window. A user may interface with the asset data/searchreporter 60 in optimization mode through one or more of the userinterface routines 58, which provide a screen to the operator indicatingthe suggested changes to be made and a button or bar which the operatoruses to install the changes or to prevent the changes from beinginstalled. The user may then push a button to install the changes, fromwhich all of the changes are sent to the appropriate controllers wherethey are checked for limits and then implemented.

Other optimizer functions, such as selection optimizers, may determinewhether changes in the process configuration that need to be performedby the operator or maintenance person could better optimize the process.For example, in some cases, a selection optimization mode may recognizethat certain units or other manipulated inputs that are supposed to beavailable are no longer available for some reason. The selectionoptimizer runs one or more optimization tests assuming that one or moreof these devices, units, etc. are available, to determine how muchbetter the plant 10 would operate if these entities were put back intooperation.

The asset data/search reporter 60 extends beyond the capabilities of anasset optimization reporter, however, to provide personalized orprofile-based asset data reporting and searching. As explained in moredetail below, the asset data/search reporter 60 may provide personalizedor profile-based asset data to a user allowing the user to view a reduceset of the asset data, tailored to them, instead of all of the assetdata. This may reduce the amount of time spent and GUI menus and screensreviewed by a user when manually searching through plant asset data. Theasset data/search reporter 60 may also improve plant asset data searchesby ranking search results based on historical data collected during useroperation. The asset data/search reporter 60 may track user interactionwith the system during the display of asset data. This tracking allowsthe asset data/search reporter 60 to record profile data specific to theuser, to an asset, to a unit in the plant, to a process, or othergrouping. The tracked data, for example, can record the frequency withwhich a user or group of users accesses a particular type of asset orasset data field and from this frequency prioritize the assets based onthose most frequently accessed.

As discussed further below, the asset data/search reporter 60 may rankassets based on any traceable historic data. The data may include assetdata, such as health, utilization, variability, or performance index, analert status, an urgent event status, or any other asset data. Oneexample is the percentage of time a user views particular plant data,such as status information pertaining to any asset of interest,including any unit area, device, or process. For example, if a user isrecorded as having viewed a particular plant area (including multipleassets—units, devices, loops, etc.), then the asset data/search reporter60 may record that information as use preference data indicating that tothe user (or users) this particular area of the plant may have a higherpriority. If the same user, or in some cases another user, performs asearch for assets in a plant, then the asset data/search reporter 60 maylist first (or in other examples only) those assets in the higherpriority area(s). This higher priority listing may take the place of thetypical all-encompassing listing or the listing may be presented to auser in a separate GUI format. The desire is that this higher prioritylisting will allow users to more quickly narrow down the relevant datafor a particular search or inquiry instead of having to go through alllevels and sub levels to identify the desire asset data.

In addition to ranking plant assets based on the time, the assetdata/search reporter 60 may rank based on the number of times aparticular asset has been accessed by a user, the number of times anasset has received an alert condition, the number of times an asset hasreceived maintenance, the time since the last maintenance (listing thelongest time assets first, for example), a user tracked correlationbetween asset data, or any other historical data derivable from userinteraction with the system. Furthermore, the user need not be a userthat interacts with the system containing the asset data/searcher 60.The historical data used to determine a user profile may be frombusiness personal operating the business applications 64, maintenancepersonnel interacting with a maintenance system, process personnelinteracting with a process system, or other personnel of operating onother systems in the plant.

Furthermore, the resulting listings may be based off of single ormultiple profiled parameters (user preference) variables. For example,the asset data/search reporter 60 may identify a first level profileparameter, a second level profile parameter, a third level profileparameter, and so on. The asset data/search reporter 60 may then rankassets based on the first level profile parameter (e.g., plant area),and for each group of assets satisfying this particular first profileparameter sub-rank those assets based on a second level profileparameter (e.g., health index). A similar further sub-ranking couldoccur for any additional profile parameters.

Returning to FIG. 2, to affect data collection and presentation,controllers and control routines 68, such as DeltaV™ described above,may provide control information to the asset data/search reporter 60,including operating equipment effectiveness, alarms, alerts, productionanalyses, cost analyses (e.g., cost of fixing, cost of running thedevice until failure), efficiency, etc. The AMS™ Suite: IntelligentDevice Manager, or other maintenance system applications 66, mayprovided maintenance information, such as the health of a device,maintenance status, downtime analyses (e.g., costs of downtime, cause ofdowntime, etc.), calibration information, cost analysis, work orders,etc. A work order/parts order generation routine is described in furtherdetail in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/086,159 entitled“Automatic Work Order/Parts Order Generation and Tracking” the contentof which is expressly incorporated by reference herein. AMS™ Suite:Machinery Health Manager or other known asset management applications 70provide monitoring, diagnostic and optimization information regardingvarious equipment, including rotating equipment 20. Information fromrunning mathematical software models 56, as provided by MDC Technologyor other model generation applications, are further provided to theasset data/search reporter 60 and may provide modeled status informationrelating to some or all of the equipment within the process plant 10,including modeled information relating to device models, loops models,unit models, area models, etc. The data from the models 56 may be usedor provide predictive control or real time optimal control within theplant 10, including predictive maintenance alerts, predictivemaintenance quality assurance, etc. Further, the data generated by themodels may be used to generate indices to be used by other applications,such as business and process control applications. Examples of modelsare described in further detail in U.S. patent application Ser. No.10/085,439, referred to above. Business applications 64, such asenterprise resource planning (ERP) tools, material resource planning(MRP) tools, computer maintenance management systems (CMMS) or otherbusiness applications, may provide business information including keyperformance indicators (KPIs), economics information, plant yield, stockinformation, production planning, material resource planning, etc., andengage in business-to-business applications to communicate parts orders,work orders, supply orders, etc. KPIs may include anything from economicindicators, such as profit margins (e.g., profit made per sale), capitolturnover rate (sales per capitol employed) profitability (e.g., profitper capitol investment, profit margin times capitol turnover rate), toasset specific indicators, such as operating equipment effectiveness(OEE), described further below, and supporting metrics. KPIs may furtherinclude status information relating to maintenance and operationalfunctions, and is not solely limited to business information.

Each of the above described data sources may provide the informationdirectly to the asset data/search reporter 60 and/or via anotherapplication. For example, optimizers 55, control routines 68, controlexperts 52, business applications 64, maintenance system applications66, asset managers 70, decision makers 72, etc. may provide statusinformation to both the asset data/search reporter 60 and to the assetmanagement system 50 to generate further status information, such asindices, or to execute models 56. The status information from the assetmanagement system 50 would then be provided to the asset data/searchreporter 60. In other words, status information may be shared among thevarious data sources (e.g. tools, applications, etc.) within the processplant 10 in order to generate further status information, though all ofthe status information may be made available to the asset data/searchreporter 60.

As mentioned generally thus far, a plant 10 is comprised hierarchicallyrelated entities within the plant 10, such as areas, units, loops,devices, etc., where the plant 10 may be considered an entity in and ofitself. The hierarchical arrangement may be arranged where the plant 10includes various areas, which in turn include various units, that inturn include various loops and devices. Each of these entities aregenerally interrelated and interconnected within the process plant 10.For example, areas may include devices interconnected with units, loops,etc. In this example hierarchy, lower level entities, such as devices,may be interconnected to form higher level entities, such as units,which in turn may be interconnected to form yet higher level entitiessuch as areas, and so on.

One or more coordinated user interface routines 58 may communicate withthe asset data/search reporter 60, as well as any other applicationswithin the plant 10 to provide help and visualization to operators,maintenance persons, business persons, etc. regarding any level withinthe process plant 10. The operators and other users may use thecoordinated user interface routines 58 to perform or to implementpredictive control, change settings of the plant 10, view help withinthe plant 10, or perform any other activities related to the informationprovided by the data sources. The user interface routines 58 may includean operator guidance tool that receives information from the controlexpert 52 as well as information related to the indices, which can beused by an operator or other user to help perform many functions such asviewing the status of a process or devices within the process, to guidethe predictive control expert 52 or to perform predictive or optimizedcontrol.

Still further, the user interface routines 58 may be used to view dataor to obtain data from any of the data sources in the other parts of theprocess plant 10 via, for example, the asset management system 50. Forexample, managers may want to know what is happening in the process ormay need high level information related to the process plant 10 to makestrategic plans. Operators, on the other hand, may want to know what ishappening with the health of a device within the loop or area that theoperator is monitoring and operating. Maintenance personnel, in turn,may be interested in how hard an operator is utilizing a device in orderto alert that operator to potential problems with the device due to theoperator's use. The pooling of status information at the assetdata/search reporter 60 described above, provides a centralized sourcefor reporting on the various entities within the process plant 10 toeach of the various personnel rather than requiring a user to accesseach particular data source separately. It will be understood that theasset data/search reporter 60, via a user interface routine 58, canreport on one or more entities using one of the monitoring techniquesdescribed above and can report status information of these entities toany desired persons, such as to a maintenance person, a business person,a process operator, etc., thereby eliminating the need for separatereports for each entity, data source, etc. It will also be understoodthat the asset data/search reporter 60 may present report personalizedor profile-based information tailored to the particular user requestinput at the user interface routines 58 and based on past userinteraction with the user interface routines 58. For example, these userinterface routines 58 may present users with plant asset data from whichthe asset data/search reporter 60 tracks user interaction and viewing todevelop historical (profile) data that is later used to tailor the userinterface routines 58 upon the users next interaction therewith.

Some examples of existing user interface routines 58 that may bemodified in response to the asset data/search reporter 60 include AMS™Suite: Performance Monitor available from Emerson Process Managementwhich may be used to report equipment performance information. AMS™Suite: Performance Monitor is generally a web-based application thatallows users to monitor equipment performance from remote locations. Forexample, a remote monitoring application could provide a user withaccess to optimizers and other data sources, including the ability toexecute various data tools such as process control tools, processmonitoring tools, equipment or device monitoring tools, index generationtools, worked order generations tools, business or other tools orapplications. The results from the data sources can then be sent back tothe remote location as plots, charts, suggested actions, indices, or anyother results capable of being provided. Remote monitoring examples aredescribed further in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/852,945entitled “Remote Analysis of Process Control Plant Data,” which wasfiled on May 10, 2001 and which is hereby expressly incorporated byreference herein. However, other web-based monitoring and reportingapplications may also be utilized. Additional interface routines 58includes DeltaV™ which may be used to report control information.Information regarding rotating equipment may be reported via a userinterface as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,817,928, which is herebyexpressly incorporate by reference herein. A variation of this userinterface is further applicable beyond rotating equipment, as describedfurther below. Further examples of user interface routines 58 aredescribed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/085,439 mentionedabove. However, other examples of a user interface routine 58, includingthe user interface routine 58 describe below, may be used alternativelyor in conjunction with the user interface routines 58 described thusfar. The choice or format of user interface routine 58 may be dependenton the type of status information being reported or the particular userviewing the status information.

Generally, the user interface routines 58 provide a graphical userinterface (GUI) that is integrated with the asset data/search reporter60 to facilitate a user's interaction with the various capabilitiesprovided by the different data sources. However, before discussing theGUI in greater detail, it should be recognized that the GUI may includeone or more software routines that are implemented using any suitableprogramming languages and techniques. Further, the software routinesmaking up the GUI may be stored and processed within a single processingstation or unit, such as, for example, a workstation, a controller, etc.within the plant 10 or, alternatively, the software routines of the GUImay be stored and executed in a distributed manner using a plurality ofprocessing units that are communicatively coupled to each other withinthe asset utilization system. For example, the user interface routine 58and GUI may be incorporated as part of a web-based software routine thatpermits a user to view reports via a network connection, such as overthe Plantwide LAN 37, the Internet, or other communications system,thereby allowing a user to view a report on a device, loop, unit, area,etc. remotely from where that device, loop, unit, area, etc. is locatedor even remotely from the process plant 10. For example, reports, orsummaries thereof, may be sent to phones, pagers, electronic mail, etc.This may be particularly useful if the report is time critical (e.g., adevice failure alert). An example of a method and system that couldpermit a user to view reports via a communications system to a pager,cellular phone, personal digital assistant, email address, laptopcomputer, desktop computer, or any other type of device or hardwareplatform may be found in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/123,445entitled “Web Services-Based Communications For Use With Process ControlSystems,” which was filed on Apr. 15, 2002, and which is expresslyincorporated herein by reference.

Preferably, but not necessarily, the GUI may be implemented using afamiliar graphical windows-based structure and appearance, in which aplurality of interlinked graphical views or pages include one or morepull-down menus that enable a user to navigate through the pages in adesired manner to view and/or retrieve a particular type of information.The features and/or capabilities of the above data sources may berepresented, accessed, invoked, etc. through one or more correspondingpages, views or displays of the GUI. Furthermore, the various displaysmaking up the GUI may be interlinked in a logical manner to facilitate auser's quick and intuitive navigation through the displays to retrieve aparticular type of information or to access and/or invoke a particularcapability of the above data sources.

For example, the GUI provides intuitive graphical depictions or displaysof process control areas, units, loops, devices, etc. Each of thesegraphical displays may include numerical, textual and graphical displaysof status information regarding any entity within the process plant 10.For example, a display depicting a process control area may providecorresponding status information of that area (i.e., a particularportion of the process control system at a particular level of theequipment hierarchy). On the other hand, a display depicting a loop mayprovide status information associated with that particular loop. In anyevent, a user may use the status information shown within any view, pageor display to quickly assess whether a problem exists within any of thedevices, loops, etc. depicted within that display.

Additionally, the GUI described herein may automatically, or may inresponse to a request by a user, provide status information to the userregarding any entity within the process plant 10. However, depending onthe type of information or the security clearance of the particularuser, restrictions may be imposed on the basis of the type of statusinformation or on the basis of the particular entity or level. Forexample, a maintenance person may be restricted to status informationregarding the device the maintenance person is responsible for, inaddition to status information that may have an immediate or proximateeffect on the device, such as information regarding the efficiency andutilization of the device or of the loop that the device is a part of.On the other hand, the maintenance person may be restricted from viewinginformation related to the efficiency of the process plant 10 as a wholeor from viewing sensitive business information. In other cases, such aswith the manager of the process plant 10, all status informationregarding any entity or level of the process plant 10 may be madeavailable to the user.

FIG. 3 is an example graphical display that may be provided by the GUIto report status information to a user and enable a user to quicklyanalyze the operational status and performance of a process area withinthe plant 10. As shown in FIG. 3, the GUI may graphically depict thephysical equipment (and the interconnections therebetween) within aprocess area 100. Of course, it should be recognized that although aprocess area is depicted within the GUI display, any other portion ofthe plant 10 such as, for example, a unit, sub unit, loop, device, etc.may be shown instead to achieve the same or similar results. In anyevent, the process area 100 is depicted as having a pair of tanks, aplurality of temperature transmitters, pressure transmitters, flowtransmitters, etc. and pipes, all of which may be interconnected asshown in FIG. 3. Further, each of the physical devices may be displayedalong with an associated alphanumeric identifier (e.g., TT-394) thatuniquely identifies that device within the plant 10 and may also bedisplayed along with a graphic meter or gauge (i.e., the partiallyshaded semi-circular features) that enables a user to quickly determinethe status of the sensing parameter associated with that device. Forexample, the GUI may display a graphic meter or gauge associated with atemperature transmitter and may shade more or less of the meter based onthe temperature currently being sensed by the temperature transmitter.Importantly, status information, here shown as one or more index values(performance, health, variability, utilization), may be displayed forone or more of the devices shown within the area 100. By way of exampleonly, health index values for several of the devices that are connectedto a tank 110 within the area 100 are displayed. However, more or fewerhealth index values could be displayed if desired. Additionally,different status information may be displayed for any of the devicesthat appear within the area 100 as desired. As can be appreciated fromthe display shown in FIG. 3, a user can quickly ascertain whether anarea is performing properly and will continue to perform properly.Further, a user can also quickly identify those devices, units, subunits, etc. that may need attention and/or which may be causing aparticular problem.

It will also be understood that a user may view successively lower andlower entities within a plant and be provided status information abouteach of these different entities or views. Thus, for example, a user maylook at a view of the plant and see status information for the plant.The user may then focus on one area, such as by selecting one of theareas within the plant view, and see the status information associatedwith that area. A user may use a mouse to click on the area (or otherentity being viewed) or the associated alphanumeric identifier or,alternatively, may enter the identifier via a keyboard, to request a newwindow or a pop-up window to display status information for that area.Similarly, by clicking on units within the displayed area, the statusinformation for different units may be viewed. Likewise, statusinformation for loops, sub units, devices etc. may then be viewed byfocusing in on these different entities from a view of an entity inwhich these lower level entities are located. In this manner, a user canquickly find the cause of a problem or potential problem at any point orlevel of the plant. Still further, the GUI may also provide textualmessages within the graphical display shown in FIG. 3 or in some otherdisplay or page that indicate to the user current or potential problems,which may be related to the displayed status information or changesthereof. These textual messages may identify possible solutions to theproblems which have been identified.

As discussed further herein, the GUIs presented by the user interfaceroutines 58 may include many additional screens and information,including table forms of plant asset data information and search formsfor searching plant assets for matching devices and the like. Inaccordance with the present application, the information presented tothe user may be tailored based on historical, or profile, data.

To develop historical data, the asset data/search reporter 60 mayinclude a number of functional elements. FIG. 4 illustrates a functionaldiagram of an example asset data/search reporter 200 that may be used asthe asset data/search reporter 60 of FIG. 2. The reporter 200 includes asearch engine 202 that executes a search routine through the userinterface routines 58 to allow a user to search through plant asset databased on identified search fields. The search engine 202 in theillustrated example accesses plant asset data through an interface 201in communication with the data sources discussed above with respect tothe example of FIG. 2. For example, the search engine 202 may be incommunication with control routines, an AMS™ or similar system, amaintenance system, models, control expert, optimizers, an assetmanagement system, etc. The plant asset data (e.g., status information)may be stored locally within the asset data/search reporter 200 or in astorage medium accessible by the reporter 200. An example memory storage204 is shown, however, and it will be understood that the memory storage204 may be separate from the reporter 200.

A user interaction tracker 206 tracks user interaction with the userinterface routines 58 to develop historical data reflective of whichassets and asset data is more frequently referenced. The userinteraction tracker 206 may also perform more complex trackings, such astracking assets and asset data that is accessed in response to otherassets or asset data. For example, the user interaction tracker 206 maytrack which assets a user views the status of when another asset reachesan alert condition. For example, if a process operator is advised analert or urgent event on a particular device within a unit, then thetracker 206 may record whether the operator then begins manuallychecking additional devices within that unit (or process) to determineif they have been affected by the alert condition of the first device.Such correlated historical data could then be later used to provideanother user with a smart tag listing correlated devices upon trigger ofan alert on the first device. The tracking may occur internally with thesystem and automatically without interfering or altering the user'sgeneral system interactions.

Once the user data is tracked by the tracker 206 and stored, a profiler208 accesses the developed historical data to automatically develop userpreference data that may be used to personalize the reporting of assetdata (status information) through the user interface routines 58. Theprofiler 208 may identify particular data for an asset as being highpriority asset data and communicate that higher priority information tothe user interface routines 58. The profiler 208 may analyze thehistorical data for higher priority data, at the device, unit, process,loop, sub-unit, or other level and then store that higher priority datafor later presentation to the user. The profiler 208 may rank all assetdata in this manner or just some portion of the asset data. The profiler208 is designed to present personalized asset data during typical surveyviewing of plant data. In the example of a search, user preference datadeveloped by the profiler may be sent to a search report generator 210that instructs the user interface routines 58 to present a search reportthat lists only a portion of all assets satisfying the search criteriaand, in particular, those assets determined to be most likely desired bythe searcher.

User interaction data may be tracked by the tracker 206 continuouslywhenever a user is interfacing with the GUI of the user interfaceroutines 58, periodically, during operation by only some users, at theinitiation of some triggering event a user's computer, or uponinstruction from a remote computer, for example. The asset data/searchreporter 200 may provide the user (e.g., through the user interfaceroutines 58) a button that allows the user to select whether userinteractions should be tracked during a particular session. The systemmay present the selection button at user login or system startup, aftera given period of non-activity has occurred, upon a user attempting toaccess new plant asset data or to perform a new search, at theinitiation of a remote system such as a business or maintenance system,or upon any other trigger event.

In some examples, the asset data/search reporter 200 may track userdata, store that historical data, analyze that data and then offer theuser the option of keeping that information for later usage ordiscarding. The asset data/search reporter 200 may thus allow the userto approve of the profile analyses. Furthermore, although analyzes aredescribed below in an automatic configuration, it will be understoodthat the user may be presented with a preferences menu that allows theuser to select which types of historical data are tracked and/or whichtypes of tracked information are considered during analysis.

The reporter 200 is shown with certain functional elements. It will beunderstood that the reporter 200 may include additional functionalelements not depicted, including for example an optimizer as discussedabove.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example historical data collection technique 300that may be implemented by the asset data/search reporter 60 or 200. Theuser interface routine presents a user interface 302 through which theuser interacts to monitor, view, or search plant asset data. The userinteraction tracker monitors user interactions through a tracker 304.The tracker 304 may track key strokes, button depressions, and the likewhich indicate that a user has selected a particular asset data, assetdata screen view, tree, screen, tab, etc. The tracker 304 may track notonly the action (e.g., data call request) but also the actually dataresponsive to that action. For example, if a user is presented with ascreen listing a series of areas within a plant, the tracker 304 mayrecord not only the act of selecting one of those areas, but also theparticular area selected, and the assets corresponding to that area.Tracker 304 may track the number of times such information is accessedor called over a given period of time. The tracker 304 may track theamount of time a user spends reviewing particular types of information.For example, if a user or users spend a larger portion of their timeviewing data pertaining to assets in an area B of a plant, then thetracker 304 may track the time spent reviewing area B assets.

A block 306 stores and/or updates historical profile data based on thetracked data from tracker 304. The block 306 for example may update arunning database of plant asset areas and a running tally of the timeover which a user is accessing information pertinent to that area,stored in a the storage 204. This running database may be constantlyupdated as new tracked information is obtained. The historical data isthen accessed by a block 308, which in the illustrated example isexecuted by the profiler 208.

The profiler 208 (through the block 308) may analyze, or profile, thehistorical data to develop personalized, prioritized subsets of assetdata. Thus, while the system may under its normal course prioritizesearch results in the ordinary course of searching, e.g., asset data“priority,” the profiler 208 produces a further, personalizedprioritization of the search results as they relate to the interactionwith the system. This prioritization is more dynamic and user specificas it relates to the relative importance of the asset data as that assetdata relates to the previous profile of user interaction with thesystem.

The asset data in general includes status information on assets. Thepersonalized subset may represent higher priority information withinthat status information, higher priority in that the asset data/searcher60 has determined that the subset is likely to be more pertinent to theuser or particular user request (e.g., a request to view plant assetdata or entry of search criteria to automatically generate responsivesearch criteria) than other status information that would otherwise beresponsive. This higher priority status information may be presented toa user when the user accesses a particular type of plant asset view. Forexample, if the user accesses a particular area within the processingplant, then the profiler 208 may analyze the historical data from block306 to identify which information in that particular area is most likelyto be viewed by the user based on past historical performance. Theprofiler 208 may present the personalized asset data only in response tocertain user interactions. For example, the profiler 208 may onlypresent personalized asset data in more macroscopic views, such as atthe area level, process, or unit level, where not all of the assetinformation may be deemed necessary, at least initially. In contrast,when the user selects a specific asset to focus in on, the profiler 208may be instructed not to present a reduced set of the statusinformation, but rather present all of the asset data. Although in someexamples, the profile may personalize the report of status informationon a single asset, to include only that information fitting anautomatically generated user preference profile.

The process 300 ends with the profile data being stored by a block 310at the storage 204 for later access by the asset data/searcher 200, andmore specifically the profiler 208, to control the personalization ofthe display of plant asset data on the user interface routines 58.

The above description provides an example technique for developinghistorical data to be used in profiling a user interaction with the userinterface routines 58. FIG. 6A illustrates an example process 400 thatmay be executed by the asset data/search reporter 200, and moreparticularly the search engine 202 in communication with the searchreport generator 210, to automatically provide a search reports ofpredicted search parameters developed in response to past searchcriteria targeted by the user. To facilitate discussion, reference ismade to FIG. 7 which shows a sample GUI input screen 402 that may beprovided by the user interface routines 58. A search tab 403 has beenselected and, as a result, the screen 402 has a series of search fields404 a-404 e that may be populated by manually typing in text or bysearch field value from a pop-up window. Each search field may beassociated with a different plant asset data (or status information),and while only five search fields are shown it will be appreciated thatany number of search fields may be provided. Example search fieldsinclude the following listing, which is provided by way of example notlimitation and is not exhaustive: health index, utilization index,variability index, performance index, a composite index of the same,alert state, urgent event state, maintenance status, last maintenance,next scheduled maintenance, calibration status, last calibration, nextscheduled calibration, manufacturer, area, process, device type, loop,and other asset data as described herein and as will be understood bypersons of ordinary skill in the art. Only certain example search fieldsare shown in the screen 403.

In the illustrated example a user has selected a health search value of0-100 for field 404 d, leaving the remaining search fields blank fornow, with the exception of the global location search field 404 a. Theuser interface routine 58 communicates that desired health value to theasset data/search reporter 60 which receives the identification at ablock 408. A block 410 then accesses the stored plant asset data forassets satisfying the desired health value.

The data from the block 410 would include all assets satisfying thesearch condition in this particular example. The data is then passed toa prioritizer 412, which checks for stored historical data, such as thatdeveloped from the profiler 308. If historical data exists theprioritizer 412 prioritizes the data from bock 410 based on the priorityinformation in the stored historical data. This historical data may bedevice, unit, area, or process specific. In some examples, thehistorical data may differentiate between assets based on otheridentifiers. The prioritizer 412 provides a prioritized reordering ofthe search result data from block 410 and, in the illustrated example,passes that information to second prioritizer 413 which checks for othernon-historical prioritizing criteria for possible further reordering orfiltering of the data from block 412.

For example, if the asset data/search reporter has previously correlatedcertain plant asset data with other plant asset data, the block 413 mayidentify that correlated asset data from the search result data of theblock 410, and use that correlated data to further prioritize, reduce,or in some instances expand the search results affected by block 412. Inthis way, the system may develop a unique point of interest display forthe user showing not only search results from correlated results thatare identified by the system as also being of potential interest to theuser. As discussed further below in regards to FIGS. 6B and 6C, a pointof interest display may mark certain data sets or types of data based onhistorical usage for the user, such that each user's “point of interest”may be different as each user may interact with the system in adifferent role within the plant. Correlation based reporting operates asa point of interest system in which the search result input by the usercenters the asset data/search reporter to a particular set of asset dataor asset status information, and the reporter then determines of thereare branches from that point of interest that reflect correlated data.FIG. 6B shows a status information or asset data mapping configurationin which a search criteria 415 inserted by a result has been previouslycorrelated to a series of asset data criteria 417 a-417 e that representnon-historical data. The search criteria 415, for example, could be anindex, alert status, or other asset data, and the correlated criteria417 a-417 e could be any other index, alert status, or asset data thatthe system determines is related to the search criteria. Historical data417 f used by block 412 is also shown. All the criteria data from 417a-417 f may then be used to produce prioritized search results 417 g.

FIG. 6C shows a similar point of interest mapping to that of FIG. 6B,but where the prioritized search results 417 g′ are only based on thehistorical data 417 f′ used by block 412. In the configuration of FIG.6C, instead of criteria 417 a-417 e being used to further prioritize thesearch results, elements 417 a′-417 e′ actually reflect independentsearch results that when displayed to a user would display asset datacorrelated to the initial search criteria and/or search results 417 g′.For example, search results 417 g′ could represent a personalized subsetof all assets having a health index of 60-100, while element 417 a′could assets having a performance index of 60-100, because the assetdata/search reporter 60 has previously correlated the health index withthe performance index, for example, when the two indexes have a similarlinear regression as index values decline.

Non-historical, correlated search criteria could be of any sort, and thecorrelations may be based on time or location (plant wide, unit wide,area specific, etc.). Other correlations will be appreciated.

Data from the block 413 is provided to a block 414 that determineswhether an assurance factor for the prioritized data is great enough topresent only certain of the assets identified in the initial search ofblock 410. The block 414 may determine, for example, if the higherpriority assets identified by the prioritizer 412 have a sufficientlyhigh likelihood of being the desired search results that the otherassets identified by the block 410 need not be presented in a searchresult. In such cases, the block 414 may store a copy of the fullyprioritized asset listing from the block 412, but truncated to includeonly the highest priority assets, which data is then passed to a block416 that instructs the user interface routine 58 to display searchresults 418 to the user, search results that may be reviewed withrespect to different status information by selecting different tabs 419.If the block 414 determines that such a truncation should not occur thenthe full prioritized asset listing of block 412 is displayed to theuser, shown in the shadow as 420.

The search results 418 show a listing of assets having a health indexbetween 0-100. That listing comprises higher priority assets (andcorresponding status information) in a first portion 418 a. The higherpriority information in this example reflects a personalized searchresult in which the asset data/search reporter 60 has prioritize thesearch results to not only rank the assets based on their health indexbut also to identify a subset of the assets that pertain to a previouslyidentified asset area of importance, in this case area 2, which pastuser searches or browsing has been identified as an area of particularinterest in comparison to other areas. In the illustrated example, thehigher priority status information is duplicated above the entirety ofresponse search information, although as discussed above this need notbe the case, and only the higher priority search information may beprovided if desired. FIG. 8 provides an another example search listing418 where the assets have been prioritized based on a profiled userpreference for performance index (PI), where only those assets having aPI in a range identified by a profiler (e.g., between 0-65) as being aparticular higher priority range are shown in the listing 418. Forexample, the profiler 208 may determine the range of PI for each of themost frequently accessed assets and determine if the closeness of the PIranges are statistically significant enough to identify PI as anavailable prioritizing variable.

FIG. 9 illustrates another example of a personalized search, in which anasset data/search reporter has identified that the users (or therequesting user) historically view a particular type of plant asset, inthis case pressure transmitters, more frequently than another type ofasset, in this case valves. As a result, the more frequently viewedasset is prioritized in response to a user search request for assetsthat have a criticality value of between 60-100. That is, the searchcriteria instructs the asset data/search reporter to only indicateassets having a criticality range of 60-100, but the report results aresorted according to the historical views of the resulting data. Theillustrated report shows that of the asset data having the identifiedcriticality, user preference data has indicated that pressuretransmitters reflect higher priority status information. The illustratedreport also shows responsive lower priority status information (valvedata), although in other examples such data may be exclude. Thehistorical view data may be user specific, based on particular userviewing patterns or the historical view data may be based off of alluser viewing patterns and thus, in this way, be specific to the assetitself.

Other status information on the assets may be presented to the user,again in a personalized manner based on user preferences automaticallyderived from historical data, by selecting different ones of the tabs419, as shown in FIGS. 10 and 11, showing search results narrowed downby active alert status, and search results narrowed down by eventhistory. Each of the tabs may correspond to a predetermined set ofconditions, e.g., active alerts may personalize the general searchresults by prioritizing them based on those assets having a health indexin the search range and alert status of “maintenance.” The prioritizingof each tab, however, may be modified by the asset data/search reporterto prioritize information based on the user preferences automaticallyderived from the historical data. Furthermore, additional or fewer tabsmay be added to the tab listing depending on identified userpreferences. In fact, a tab may be added which would only containpredicted search results, based on profiled user preferences and listingonly that status information automatically determined by the system tobe of a higher priority to the user than other status information.

FIGS. 7-9 illustrate merely some example implementations of apersonalized search result presented by the user interface routine 58.Other implementations may be achieved as will be understood.Furthermore, while FIGS. 7-9 illustrate search results where one or twovariables are used prioritize the predicted listing, any number ofprofile variables may be identified by the blocks 412 and 414 and usedto prioritize information. This may be particularly helpful for searchresults that contain large numbers of assets. FIG. 12A illustrates anexample search report 500 where assets are ranked based on plant area(with plant area B having a higher priority than plant area A). Theassets within each plant area are further prioritized based on thecurrent health index provided by an asset management system. Furtherstill any assets having the same health index have been furtherprioritized based on their performance index. Thus, personalized searchresults of any multi-dimensional manner may be provided by the assetdata/search reporter.

In some examples, multiple preference data (such as plant area andhealth index) may be identified by the asset data/search reporter, butthe report will not be able to prioritize search results in amulti-dimensional manner as shown in FIG. 12A. In those instances, thereporter may be programmed to select one of the preference data forprioritizing. For example, when multiple preference data exists inresponse to a particular search criteria, the system may prioritizeamong the preference data based on the frequency of the execution of thepreference data. If there is preference data that is more frequentlyused than other preference data, that more-frequently used preferencedata is boosted for the information that is in direct relation to thecriteria.

Additionally, in some examples the asset data/search reporter 60 may notonly prioritize certain asset data information for later use, the assetdata/searcher 60 may correlate particular asset data with other assetdata, so that when a user chooses to look at asset data, correlatedasset data may also be displayed to the user. Correlating asset data canbe quite useful in a plant system having illustration software thatpresents multiple views as the user scans across plant data. In thisway, the asset data/searcher 60 can create its own point of interestmapping to easily display all assets satisfying the main asset datavalue and the correlated asset data values. For example, a user may beviewing an active alert tab and need to see related event data for anyevents that occurred in the same general time frame as a searched foralert. Instead of having to switch to an event view, select a search,and then enter a time frame of interest, the asset data/searcher 60 mayconfigure a mapping in which the alert severity and time fields (seeFIG. 9) across assets (over the entire plant, a particular process, aunit, etc.) are correlated to the event time field in a search engineand the alert location fields are correlated together. So now, if a userlater launches a search based on an alert from one unit indicating analert time, all correlated assets having an alert over an alert timewindow may be automatically identified to a user. Correlated events maybe identified based on the location of the alert event as well. Ineither case, the user may then select through the automaticallyidentified assets for further assessment, thus providing the user withfaster access to data that the asset data/search reporter 60 hasidentified as more relevant, or in this case correlative to relevantdata.

FIG. 12B illustrates an example smart tag application in which theillustration of FIG. 10 has been modified such that a report 550,produced by the asset data/search reporter, includes a smart tag 552linked to those search results that bear a failure to communicate statusin the description. The smart tag 552 is automatically generated andonly in response to the reporter determining that historical dataindicates a user preference for identifying assets that have a failureto communicate status. The reporter executes the search based on thesearch criteria indicated in a search field area 554, identifies thestatus information responsive to the search criteria, and thenidentifies whether historical data suggests that the search resultsshould be prioritized based on user preference data. Additionally, thereport determines if there is user preference data indicating that forsome of the status information, the user is likely to prefer also seeingcorrelated search results, such as other assets having the same statusinformation. The reporter may then generate a smart tag in the searchfield area 554, or the smart tag 552. Upon selecting the smart tag 552,the user may be presented with a secondary search report 556 showing ofall assets having the failure to communicate status. In some instancesthe secondary report 556 may contain all assets having the statusinformation flagged by reporter (i.e., the failure to communicate), orthe reporter may report only an identified higher priority of thosesecondary search results.

An example of historical search data stored in a table form is providedbelow.

DateTime Criteria View Frequency 2007-5-31 Alert.Status = “No Asset 612:00:00 PM Communication”, Asset.Priority >65 2007-4-21 Event.Type =“Alert Event 12 2:00 PM Active”, Asset.Health >70

In accordance with some examples, the asset data search reporter 200controls which search field/smart tags are listed in search field/smarttag area 405. The particular search fields/smart tags may bepersonalized based on user preferences automatically identified by theprofiler 208 of the asset data/search reporter 60. For example, onlysearch fields/smart tags corresponding to higher priority informationmay be shown to a user. In other examples, the search fields/smart tagsmay be dynamic and change as a user selects a particular searchfield/smart tag. The asset data/search reporter 60 may identify searchfields that correlate with one another, such as the health index andperformance index or a health index and time since last maintenance.Thus, if a user is displayed a series of blank search field/smart tagsand selects one of them that has a correlated search field/smart tag,then upon entry of a value in that first search field, the assetdata/search reporter 60 may instruct the user interface routines 58 todisplay a correlated search field/smart tag for the user to complete,with the determination that the user may want to identify assets basedon the correlated search field/smart tag as well as the primary searchfield/smart tag. Furthermore, each generated search field/smart tag maycontain a popup listing of possible values that is automatically changedby the asset data/search reporter in response to automatically profileduser preferences. For example, the asset data/search reporter may modifythe available values of a popup menu on a second search field/smart tagbased on the value selected for the first search field/smart tag. If thefirst search field/smart tag to receive data is the health field, theasset data/search reporter may identify those performance index valuesassociated with the select health field value. Problematically lowhealth index values may be correlated with problematically lowperformance index values, such that the popup menu for a performanceindex may prioritize low ranges of performance index for the searchfield value when the health index search field has been populated with alow index range. The asset data/search reporter may modify the searchfields/smart tags in similar ways with non correlated searchfields/smart tags, but simply by identifying higher priority searchfield values (among the unselected search fields) based on the searchfield values already selected.

In addition to personalizing search results as discussed above withrespect to examples of FIGS. 7-12, an asset data/search reporter inaccordance with this disclosure may be used to personalize generalbrowsing of asset data. FIG. 13 is an example depiction of a displaythat may be provided by the GUI to enable a user to browse among thevarious levels within the process plant 10 and report on various statusinformation for the plant and any level thereof to provide consolidatedreporting for all entities within the process plant 10. As shown in FIG.13, a user is provided with a menu 600 of the various levels within theprocess plant 10. The menu 600 permits the user to easily navigate toview reports on status information regarding different levels andentities within the process plant 10, such as various devices, loops,units, areas, etc., including status information regarding the processplant 10 itself. The menu 600 may be arranged according to the types ofinformation that may be viewed, the various levels within the processplant 10, or any other desired configuration. This configuration mayalso be user configurable. An expanded view 610 of the structure of theprocess plant 10 is also shown along with various status information,such as the overall health index of the process plant 10, the level ofurgency associated with the health index, and alert information. Eachentity and type of status information listed in the expanded view 610may be arranged to allow a user to request further detailed informationregarding that status information and/or entity. For example, the listedentities and status information may be user selectable icons, similar toa hyperlink in a web page, that link to another report featuring furtherdetailed information associated with the selected entity or statusinformation. In response to a user action or request (e.g., clicking onthe link), the display of FIG. 13 may be replaced with the more detailedinformation, or alternatively, a new window may appear reporting on thefurther detailed status information regarding the selected level of theprocess plant 10, including any of the various devices, loops, units,areas, etc. The asset data/search reporter would tailor this detailedstatus information by prioritizing the assets responsive to therequested listing based on historical data analyzed by the reporter,where such historical data contains tracked user preference datarepresenting past user interaction with the system, as discussed above.

In addition to personalized reports such as those described above, anasset data/search reporter may present search results in a graphicalform, an example of which is illustrated in FIG. 14. Screenshot 612illustrates a dashboard depicting the personalized historical searchresults produced by an asset data/search reporter in response to asearch for assets having a health index of 95 as shown in a searchresults summary indicator 613. The search results are illustrated infour different graphical forms. Graphical plot 614 illustrates thesearch results (i.e., the assets with a health index of 95) by type andin a pie chart form. Graphical plot 615 illustrates the search resultsby alert severity, showing the number of assets responsive to the searchresults that currently also have an advisory, abnormal, failed,maintenance, or no communication alert status. Graphical plot 616 showsthe historical rate at which particular events occur, in this instancethe number of assets from among the total plant assets that haveachieved a health index of 95 over a 1 year period. This type ofillustration may allow operators to quickly assess the overall healthtrend of the entire plant or portion thereof. Graphical plot 617 issimilar to graphical illustration 615 in that both further tailor thehealth index search results based on alert status. But the plot 617depicts the number of assets having a health index of 95 and which haveactive alerts of various durations, from 1 hour to 24 hours, 1 day to 7days, 7 days to 30 days, 20 days to 365 days, or 365 days or longer.

The graphical plots 614-617 are shown by way of example. The assetdata/search reporter may illustrate personalized historical searchresults in other graphical forms. A selection box 618 is provided ineach panel 614-617 to allow users to manually select the particular typeof plot criteria.

The results shown in the graphical illustrations 614-617 reflectaggregate data of a subset of the assets responsive to the searchrequest, in particular an aggregation of the subset identified by theasset data/search reporter as more relevant search results based on theidentified ranking criteria, such as historical search data. In otherexamples, dashboard 612 may be present both this personalizedaggregation of search results as well as the entire search results bymanual selection of the user of a personalized searcher button 619 orother means.

FIGS. 15-20 are detailed depictions of the display described above inFIG. 13 in accordance with some examples. Each of FIGS. 15-20 includes atree level view 620 of various levels within the process plant 10. Inthis particular example, the tree level view 620 is arranged accordingto the type of data sources that are made available to the user (e.g.,AMS™ Suite: Machinery Health Manager data), which is subsequentlyarranged according to the various areas (e.g., Area 1, Area 2, etc.)within the process plant 10. This may be in response to a user requestto browse additional monitoring, diagnostic and optimization informationprovided by the AMS™ Suite: Machinery Health Manager data sourceregarding the process plant 10 or a request to view this type ofinformation for all areas within the process plant 10. However, the treelevel view 620 may be arranged in any desired manner. The tree levelview 620 may be arranged by various process plants 10 available to theuser, by data source, by area, by unit, etc. Furthermore, the tree levelview 620 may be personalized by listing the tree branches in aprioritized order, with the higher priority branches identified by theprofiler listed first.

Alongside the tree level view 620 is a representation of furtherdetailed status information regarding the selected area (e.g., Area 1).For example, in FIG. 15 a summary 630 of the units, loops, devices, etc.contained within Area 1 is shown with details regarding each unit, loop,device, etc. As with the tree level view 620, the summary 630 may beuser-configurable to list various entities relating to, though notnecessarily part of, the selected area. Furthermore, status informationfrom various data sources may be included in the summary 630, asdetermined from the user preferences. Further still, the listing 630 isa prioritized browser listing with higher priority status information632 listed first and lower priority status information 634 listedsecond. The priority ordering in this example is based on the healthindex which had been identified by a prioritizer as user preference dataprofiled from historical data representing past user interaction withthe system. For example, an asset data/search reporter has trackedprevious user interaction with the GUI interface like that of FIG. 13and automatically determined that the user has a preference for browsingassets based on health information (e.g., because the user morefrequently searched the performance tree based on the health index orsearched the instruments tree for instruments having a certain healthindex). In response, the asset data/search reporter in reporting theassets corresponding to Area 1, lists the assets and correspondingstatus information in a prioritized manner with those indexes having apoor performing health index first, predicting that these assets wouldbe of a higher priority interest to the user.

Beyond this automatic prioritizing based on historical data, asdescribed in U.S. application Ser. No. 10/390,818, entitled “AssetOptimization Reporting in a Process Plant”, the specification of whichis hereby incorporated by reference, each listed unit, loop, device,etc. may be user selectable to bring up even further detailedinformation regarding that entity, for example, by using dynamic linksassociated with each listed unit, loop, device, etc. In response to auser request (e.g. clicking on the alphanumeric identifier), statusinformation regarding the details pertaining to Exhaust Fan #1 (EXFAN#1) may be displayed in a device summary 640 as shown in FIG. 16. Any orall details regarding Exhaust Fan #1, including identificationinformation (e.g., name, location, manufacturer, model, data source),calibration status, configuration, efficiency, etc. may then bedisplayed in a separate window or in the same window. It will beunderstood that the particular status information being displayed is notlimited to any particular type, amount or level of detail. Instead, asdescribed more fully below, the information that may be displayed canvary according to a user's need and/or preference.

Above the listed status information for Exhaust Fan #1 are more userselectable icons responsive to user actions which bring up furtherdetailed status information. These user selectable icons (or “tabs”)reflect summary views of available information and are arranged alongthe top of the display to allow navigation among further availablestatus information. For each tab of the GUI of FIG. 15, selecting a tabmay result in a prioritized listing of status information beingpresented to a user. For example, as shown in FIG. 17, a user may viewall current alerts or events associated with Area 1 by selecting the“Active Alerts” tab. The resulting display 650 of active alertinformation may list each of the of the entities that currently have aproblem, along with details regarding the alert such as the date/time,the unit, loop or device associated with the alert, severity of thealert, etc. The display 650 is prioritized based on performance index toidentify a set of higher priority assets 652 first and a set of lowerpriority assets 654 second, where the asset data/search reporter hasanalyzed historical data of user interactions to determine, in thisexample, a user preference data identifying a desirability to see assetsorganized in ascending order of performance index.

Any or all details regarding an active alert associated with an entity,(e.g., Exhaust Fan #1) may include status information such as type,description, health, alerts, etc., as shown in the display 660 of FIG.18. The details may further include recommended actions to be takengiven the status information (e.g., repair as soon as possible) alongwith explanations of or the degree of the current status of the asset(e.g., severity, urgency, etc.) and detected cause (e.g. event fault).

As shown in FIG. 19, a historical summary or audit trail 670 may bedisplayed in response to a user request for “Historical Events”. In thisparticular example, the history regarding a device (a gearbox denoted asGBOX #5) in Area 4 is displayed to allow the user to quickly assess theprogression of the state of GBOX #4. The historical summary 670 mayfurther be used to display a history of all entities within a givenlocation, a history of a particular entity, a history of a particulartype of fault, etc. Each historical entry may further be user selectableto display details regarding that particular event, as shown in thedisplay 680 of FIG. 20. Examples of some of the details that may belisted include date and time of the event, a brief and extendeddescription of the event, event significance, status, severity,certainty, urgency, location, observations, etc.

FIGS. 21-25 are further example depictions of displayed reports that maybe provided by a user interface routine in response to a user request toview further reports of details for different types of statusinformation at various levels of the process plant 10, and under thecontrol of an asset data/search reporter. For example, in response to auser request from the display of FIG. 13, the GUI display of FIG. 21 maybe presented. However, it will also be understood that the displays ofFIGS. 21-25 may be presented in response to a user action from thedisplays in FIGS. 15-20, such as from the tree level views 620 or by auser action with a user selectable icon associated with the processplant 10, an area, a unit, a loop, a device, etc. from a GUI as depictedin FIG. 3. The GUI of FIG. 21 depicts available status informationregarding the process plant 10. A menu of headings, each relating to aparticular type of status information, facilitates navigation amongvarious types of status information regarding the process plant 10 fromvarious data sources. Examples of available status information regardingthe process plant 10 includes status information from the maintenancesystem application 66 (e.g., calibration, alerts, etc.), the assetmanagement tools 70 (e.g., alerts, alert history, repair schedules,etc.), the asset management system 50 (e.g., health index, performance,etc.) or any other desired data source. A smaller view of the display ofFIG. 3 may also be provided as a summary window 700 within the displayto facilitate navigation among the various levels of the process plant10 and to display a summary of the status information related to theprocess plant 10. In this example, the areas of the process plant 10 aredepicted in the summary window 700 to facilitate navigation to thevarious areas within the process plant 10.

Displays similar to that shown in FIG. 21 may be provided for each levelor entity within the process plant 10. For example, FIGS. 22-25 areexemplary depictions of displays that may be provided by the GUI to viewstatus information for an area (FIG. 22), a unit (FIG. 23), a loop ordevice (FIGS. 24 and 25). Each of the displays shown in FIGS. 22-25 areshown to have a menu with status information headings, each of which maybe linked to a further report containing detailed status informationthat may be displayed in response to a user request to view that type ofstatus information. A summary of the components that make up an area(e.g., Unit 1, Unit 2), the components that make up a unit (e.g., 5transmitters, 2 valves, etc.), or any other level are provided alongsidea summary of the status information for the respective area, unit, loop,device, etc. While the displays of FIGS. 22-23 are shown to includesimilar types of status information, the values and variables associatedwith the status information will generally change with each entity beingreported. For example, in both FIGS. 24 and 25 depict GUIs reportingstatus information regarding a loop or device. Even more particularly,FIG. 25 depicts a GUI reporting status information regarding equipment,components, transmitters and/or valves. However, the type of statusinformation and arrangement has been altered from that of FIG. 24.Rather, status information has been arranged according to a combinationof type of status information (e.g., urgency, alerts, recommendations,etc.) and data sources (e.g., AMS™ Suite of applications, AMS™ Suite:Performance Monitor). Additionally, the user is presented with a varietyof display options, including the Selectable Information DisplayConfiguration 710, with which a user may control the arrangement ofinformation, and General presentation options including Tri-leg graphsseparated by type (e.g., operations, maintenance, default, etc.), bargraphs, spider graphs, etc.

Each of the displays depicted above and further below may beconfigurable manually by the user to depict different types of statusinformation the user may be interested in or different levels within theprocess plant 10. For example, the user may modify which types of statusinformation are to be included in the user's report. Some of thedisplayed information may, therefore, be dynamic in terms of allowingthe user to manipulate and configure the types of status informationbeing displayed and further configure which entities are to be reportedon.

In order to manipulate the information to be displayed in a user'sreport, the GUI may be implemented to display the user's preferencesregarding his report. The user is presented with a variety of options onhow to configure the report. These options include the types of statusinformation the user may view, the various entities the user may viewstatus information for, options as to how the status information is tobe displayed (e.g., graphics, text, etc.), the layout of the statusinformation (e.g., health information centered and pronounced withrelated production information off-center and less pronounced), etc.Among the options may be status information that must always be includedin the report, which is indicated to the user as being staticinformation. The user is able to select from among the available optionsto add, delete or manipulate the status information. The user profilemay then be saved, for example, to a server, and accessed by the assetdata/search reporter 60 each time the user calls up a report.Alternatively, the user profile may reside on the user's local computerand be accessed by the user interface routine 58 each time a report isgenerated. The user may also be permitted to create different reportsfor different types of status information, different entities, etc. andsave each as a separate user profile or as a condition in a singleoverall user profile. For example, the user profile could contain aprovision that if the report is to pertain to an area, a graphicalrepresentation of that area is presented with status informationdisplayed in alphanumerics.

Alternatively, the status information displayed in a report may beimplemented with a “drag and drop” approach, wherein the user canconfigure the layout of the report as it is being viewed by selecting anicon representing an entity, dynamic link, status information, etc. Theselected icon may be cut and pasted to its new location, or dragged anddropped in its new location. Entities may be merged into other entitiesby pasting the icons on or dragging the icons to an existing entity,thereby defining functional areas, units, loops, devices, etc. accordingto the user's needs. Additionally, entities may have as many dynamiclinks associated with them as desired to bring up information aboutother entities, other data sources, other reports, other types of statusinformation, etc. As an example, the user may be presented with adefault report. This default report may be presented whenever a useraccesses a report for the first time (e.g., a new user), accesses aparticular type of status information for the first time, accessesstatus information for a particular entity for the first time, utilizesa new GUI for the first time, etc. The default report may still pertainto particular types of status information for a particular entity, whichmay relate to the user's responsibilities. That is, even though the useris presented with a default report, a user profile may already beassigned to the user which lists static information to be included inthe report and restrictions applicable to the user. In addition, thedefault report may include dynamic status information predicted by theasset data/search reporter 60 to be of likely higher interest to thatthe user. It may further be predicted how the user would like to viewthe information (e.g., the layout). These predictions may be based onhistorical data representing user interaction with the system andautomatically generated by tracking that user interaction, instead ofbeing manually generated by having the user select which options theuser would like for reporting. While such manual user configurabilitymay be used, the asset data/search reporter may automatically determinewhich information should be presented to a user, with or withoutreference to manually selected user preferences, by personalizing thereported status information based on past user interactions with statusinformation.

In either manual configurability mode or through automatic assetdata/search reporter reporting, predictions may also be based on theuser's responsibilities within the process plant, other profiles orreports that the user has used, profiles and reports of other usershaving similar responsibilities, etc. Alternatively, all availablestatus information may be presented to the user in a generic format.However, the user is free to add, delete or otherwise manipulate thedynamic status information in the default report to the user's ownpreferences.

Each piece of dynamic status information may be presented as a userselectable icon that the user can capture, move, manipulate or deletefrom the report. Additional status information may be added to thereport from a separate menu providing the user with a selection of alltypes of status information available to the user. The choices andpreferences selected by the user may be maintained as part of a userprofile, residing at the user's computer, at any data storage devicewithin the process plant 10, or at a storage device located remotelyfrom the process plant 10. Each time the report is reconfigured, theuser profile may be updated and stored such that the user's preferencesare always current and the next time the user views the report, it willbe displayed according to the last known preferences. A user may alsoneed to view numerous reports on various entities and statusinformation. If desired, a separate profile for each type of report maybe maintained, thereby allowing the user to configure each reportseparately. For example, a maintenance person may view health andperformance data when viewing a report on a first device, but may onlywant to view health information when viewing a report on a seconddevice. Alternatively, the same layout and type of status information(still based on the user's preferences) may be included in each reportfor various areas, units, loops, devices, etc. Each time a user views areport, the user interface routine 58 may determine the user's identity(e.g., at a login screen), and retrieve the user profile associated withthat identity. If the user profile is dependent on the entity or statusinformation being reported, a user request for the particular entity orstatus information may prompt the user interface routine 58 to retrievethe appropriate profile. The user interface routine 58 may then read theprofile and display the information accordingly.

However, it may be preferable that some static information beimplemented that the user must always keep in the report. For example, areport for a maintenance person assigned to monitor and maintain aparticular device may have the health index for that device alwaysdisplayed, whereas information regarding the performance and efficiencyof the device may be dynamic information the maintenance person hasselected to include in a maintenance report or that the assetdata/search reporter has automatically identifies as appropriate statusinformation to include. That is, the maintenance person may manuallydecide or the asset data/search reporter may automatically decide toinclude the performance and efficiency information, because it has anappreciable impact on the health of the device. Likewise, a reportdirected to a process operator may always include status informationregarding the performance and efficiency of the loop being controlled,in addition to user configurable dynamic information such as healthinformation of the devices within that loop, because the health of thedevice may have a future impact on the operation of the loop, and istherefore of interest to the process operation.

The asset data/search reporter may be configured to prioritize static ordynamic status information on plant assets and based on trackedhistorical data from user interaction with static or dynamic statusinformation.

The static information may also reside in the user profile, though theuser will not be permitted to configure the static information. Forexample, the user's responsibilities and duties within the process plant10 may be indicated in the user profile without allowing the user tomodify those responsibilities and duties. A maintenance person,therefore, could have a user profile describing his specific position(e.g., maintenance person), the devices, loops, etc. that themaintenance person is responsible for, particular duties with respect tothese assets (e.g., monitor device health), etc. The user profile mayalso include restrictions, that the user cannot manually alter or theasset data/search reporter cannot automatically alter, which restrictwhat the status information the user is allowed to view in a report. Therestrictions may be imposed based on reading the user'sresponsibilities, for example. The asset data/search reporter maytherefore read the user profile to determine not only the user'spreferences, but also details regarding the user in order to displayparticular types of status information that are of interest to the userand also status information that must necessarily be reported to theuser to allow the user to complete his duties and responsibilities.

While the present invention has been described with reference tospecific examples, which are intended to be illustrative only and not tobe limiting of the invention, it will be apparent to those of ordinaryskill in the art that changes, additions and/or deletions may be made tothe disclosed embodiments without departing from the spirit and scope ofthe invention.

The foregoing description is given for clearness of understanding only,and no unnecessary limitations should be understood therefrom, asmodifications within the scope of the invention may be apparent to thosehaving ordinary skill in the art.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of reporting status information, themethod comprising: receiving, at a process control user interface, auser request from a user and identifying an area or device within aprocess plant based on the user request, wherein the area or device isassociated with a first plurality of status indicators representing ameasurement of health or performance of the area or device, each of thefirst plurality of status indicators representing a status of the areaor device; receiving, from a data source in response to the userrequest, user-personalized status indicators regarding the area ordevice, wherein the user-personalized status indicators represent apersonalized selection, with respect to the user, of a subset of thefirst plurality of status indicators based on profile data associatedwith the user; prioritizing the user-personalized status indicatorsbased on historical user preference data of the user to identify asubset of high priority user-personalized status indicators within theuser-personalized status indicators, wherein prioritizing theuser-personalized status indicators comprises: (i) automaticallytracking user interaction data representing a frequency with which auser has viewed a plurality of previously displayed status indicators,where the plurality of previously displayed status indicators mayinclude one or more of the user-personalized status indicators and wheresuch user tracking occurs automatically without user initiatedactivation using an internal user interaction tracker capable ofuninterrupted tracking of user interactions, (ii) profiling historicaldata, in response to tracking the user interaction data, to identify thehistorical user preference data, the historical user preference dataidentifying one or more of the user-personalized status indicators ascorrelated to the user based on interaction time with one or more of thepreviously displayed status indicators, and (iii) designating the one ormore user-personalized status indicators correlated to the user as thehigh priority user-personalized status indicators; generating auser-tailored report that includes the high priority user-personalizedstatus indicators ranked above other of the user-personalized statusindicators; and displaying, to the user, the user-tailored report thatincludes the high priority user-personalized status indicators rankedabove other of the user-personalized status indicators.
 2. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the user interaction data is tracked during a searchfor the status information regarding an area or device within theprocess plant.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the user interactiondata represents a number of times a user interacts with the plurality ofpreviously displayed status indicators.
 4. The method of claim 1,wherein the user interaction data represents the frequency within whichone or more of the plurality of previously displayed status indicatorshas been accessed by a user.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the firstplurality of status indicators comprises a health index, a variabilityindex, a usability index, or a performance index.
 6. The method of claim1, wherein the first plurality of status indicators comprises an alertstatus or urgent event status.
 7. The method of claim 1 furthercomprising continuously tracking the user interaction data.
 8. Themethod of claim 1 further comprising tracking the user interaction datain response to a remote initiation signal.
 9. The method of claim 1,wherein prioritizing the user-personalized status indicators identifiesthe high priority user-personalized status indicators and lower priorityuser-personalized status indicators, and wherein the report displaysonly the high priority user-personalized status indicators.
 10. Themethod of claim 1, wherein prioritizing the user-personalized statusindicators identifies the high priority user-personalized statusindicators and lower priority user-personalized status indicators, andwherein the report displays both the high priority user-personalizedstatus indicators and the lower priority user-personalized statusindicators.
 11. The method of claim 1, wherein prioritizing theuser-personalized status indicators comprises prioritizing based on asingle profile parameter of the historical user preference data.
 12. Themethod of claim 11 further comprising: ranking the user-personalizedstatus indicators based on a first profile parameter to determine afirst data ranking; and ranking the first data ranking based on at leastone second profile parameter to produce a second data ranking.
 13. Themethod of claim 1, wherein prioritizing the user-personalized statusindicators comprises prioritizing based on multiple profile parametersof the historical user preference data.
 14. The method of claim 1,wherein the user request is a first search request, wherein theuser-personalized status indicators contain initial search results datain response to the first search request, wherein generating theuser-tailored report comprises generating a search report containing thehigh priority user-personalized status indicators, and whereindisplaying the user-tailored report comprises displaying the searchreport containing the high priority user-personalized status indicators.15. The method of claim 14 further comprising displaying theuser-personalized status indicators separately from the search report.16. The method of claim 14, wherein the high priority user-personalizedstatus indicators represent predicted search results in response to thefirst search request.
 17. The method of claim 16 further comprising:receiving a second search request from the user, the second searchrequest being received after the first search request; prioritizing thehigh priority user-personalized status indicators of the search reportbased on the second search request to create a second search report; anddisplaying the second search report to a user.
 18. The method of claim17, wherein the second search report contains only a subset of the highpriority user-personalized status indicators of the search report. 19.The method of claim 17, wherein the second search report contains all ofthe high priority user-personalized status indicators of the searchreport but where the priority of the high priority user-personalizedstatus indicators has been rearranged in the second search report. 20.The method of claim 1, wherein the historical user preference datacomprises information regarding past user access to a status indicatorregarding an area or device within the process plant.
 21. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising: correlating the user-personalized statusindicators to other correlated status indicators for at least one otherarea or device in the process plant, such that the subset of highpriority user-personalized status indicators includes one or more of theother correlated status indicators and such that the status reportdisplayed to the user includes one or more of the other correlatedstatus indicators, displaying a report of the other correlated statusindicators to the user.
 22. The method of claim 1, wherein displayingthe report to the user comprises: displaying at least one graphicalillustration of the report illustrating a graphical plot relating to thehigh priority user-personalized status indicators.
 23. The method ofclaim 22, further comprising displaying a plurality of different graphicillustrations of the report via a plurality of different graphical plotsrelating to the high priority user-personalized status indicators, eachgraphical plot plotting the high priority user-personalized statusindicators based on a different plot criteria.
 24. A method of reportingstatus information, the method comprising: receiving, at a processcontrol user interface, a user request from a user and identifying anarea or device within a process plant based on the user request, whereinthe area or device is associated with a first plurality of statusindicators, each of the first plurality of status indicatorsrepresenting a measurement of health or performance of the area ordevice; receiving, from a data source in response to the user request,user-personalized status indicators regarding the area or device,wherein the user-personalized status indicators represent a personalizedselection, with respect to the user, of a subset of the first pluralityof status indicators based on profile data associated with the user;prioritizing the user-personalized status indicators based on historicaluser preference data of the user to identify a subset of high priorityuser-personalized status indicators within the user-personalized statusindicators, wherein prioritizing the user-personalized status indicatorscomprises: (i) automatically tracking, and storing as historical data,user interaction data representing a frequency with which a user hasviewed a plurality of previously displayed status indicators, where theplurality of previously displayed status indicators may include one ormore of the user-personalized status indicators and where such usertracking occurs automatically without user initiated activation using aninternal user interaction tracker capable of uninterrupted tracking ofuser interactions, (ii) analyzing the historical data to identify thehistorical user preference data, the historical user preference dataidentifying one or more of the user-personalized status indicators ascorrelated to the user based on interaction time with one or more of thepreviously displayed status indicators, and; (iii) designating the oneor more user-personalized status indicators correlated to the user asthe high priority user-personalized status indicators; determining anassurance factor for the higher priority status information; generatinga user-tailored report that includes the high priority user-personalizedstatus indicators ranked above other of the user-personalized statusindicators; displaying the user-tailored report to the user bydisplaying only the high priority user-personalized status indicators ifthe assurance factor is above a threshold value and displaying the highpriority user-personalized status indicators and the lower priorityuser-personalized status indicators if the assurance factor is below athreshold value.
 25. An apparatus for reporting status information, theapparatus comprising: a memory storing status indicators on the areas ordevices within the plant; a display for displaying a user-tailoredreport regarding an area or device within the plant; and a statusinformation reporter configured to: a) receive user-personalized statusindicators representing a measurement of health or performance of thearea or device from a data source in response to a user request, whereinthe user-personalized status indicators represent a personalizedselection, with respect to the user, of a subset of theuser-personalized status indicators based on profile data associatedwith a user; b) prioritize the user-personalized status indicators basedon historical user preference data of the user to identify a subset ofhigh priority user-personalized status indicators within theuser-personalized status indicators, where the historical userpreference data is determined by (i) automatically tracking userinteraction data representing a frequency with which a user has viewedpreviously displayed status indicators regarding the area or device,without user initiated activation using an internal user interactiontracker capable of uninterrupted tracking of user interactions, (ii)analyzing the user interaction data to identify the historical userpreference data, the historical user preference data identifying one ormore of the user-personalized status indicators as correlated to theuser based on the historical data, and (iii) designating the one or moreof the user-personalized status indicators correlated to the user as thehigh priority user-personalized status indicators; c) correlate theuser-personalized status indicators to other correlated statusinformation, such that the subset of higher priority informationincludes the other correlated status information; and d) generate theuser-tailored report that includes the high priority user-personalizedstatus indicators ranked above other of the user-personalized statusindicators.
 26. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the statusinformation reporter is configured to profile historical data, inresponse to data from tracking the user interactions, to identify thehistorical user preference data, the historical data representing pastuser interaction with status indicators regarding the area or device.27. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the status information reporteris configured to: store the user interaction data regarding userinteraction with status information on an area or device within theprocess plant and displayed by a computer; and analyze the userinteraction data to develop the user preference data.
 28. The apparatusof claim 27, wherein the user interaction data is data tracked during asearch for status indicators regarding the area or device.
 29. Theapparatus of claim 27, wherein the user interaction data represents anamount of time a user interacts with status indicators regarding thearea or device.
 30. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the userinteraction data represents a number of times a user interacts withstatus indicators regarding the area or device.
 31. The apparatus ofclaim 27, wherein the user interaction data represents the frequencywithin which status indicators regarding the area or device have beenaccessed by a user.
 32. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein theuser-personalized status indicators regarding the area or devicecomprise a health index, a variability index, a usability index, or aperformance index.
 33. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein theuser-personalized status indicators regarding the area or devicecomprise an alert status or urgent event status.
 34. The apparatus ofclaim 27, wherein the status information reporter is configured tocontinuously track user interaction data.
 35. The apparatus of claim 27,wherein the status information reporter is configured to track userinteraction data in response to a remote initiation signal.
 36. Theapparatus of claim 25, wherein the status information reporter isconfigured to report only the high priority user-personalized statusindicators.
 37. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the statusinformation reporter is configured to report the high priorityuser-personalized status indicators and lower priority user-personalizedstatus indicators.
 38. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the statusinformation reporter is configured to: rank the user-personalized statusindicators based on a first profile parameter to determine a first dataranking; and rank the first data ranking based on at least one secondprofile parameter to produce a second data ranking.
 39. The apparatus ofclaim 25, wherein the status information reporter is configured toprioritize the user-personalized status indicators based on multipleprofile parameters of the user preference data.
 40. The apparatus ofclaim 25, wherein the user preference data comprises informationregarding past user access to status indicators regarding the area ordevice.
 41. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the status informationreporter is configured to: display a report of the other correlatedstatus information to the user.
 42. The apparatus of claim 25, furthercomprising a display controller configured to: display at least onegraphical illustration of the report illustrating a graphical plot ofinformation relating to the high priority user-personalized statusindicators.
 43. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the displaycontroller is further configured to display a plurality of differentgraphic illustrations of the report via a plurality of differentgraphical plots of the information relating to the high priorityuser-personalized status indicators, each graphical plot plotting theinformation relating to the high priority user-personalized statusindicators based on a different plot criteria.